Have Bladder cancer second time round and was unable to work due to the treatment and other personal mental health issues. Getting it all again and claimed for PIP as I only get ESA. I failed as my treatment had to pause due to reaction and received zero points. Can McMillan help me appeal or does it ha e to be certain cancers?
Hi Gazos64 and welcome to the community.
I’m sorry to read you have a recurrence of your bladder cancer and appreciate the uncertainty that brings, having had a recurrence of my own cancer.
PIP does not depend on a diagnosis, but it does depend on how your condition(mental or physical) affects your daily life. There are certain descriptors which you need to satisfy to get points, and depending on the number of points that will determine whether PIP would be awarded.
There are two elements to PIP-daily living allowance and mobility and it’s possible to get one without the other. The level of the award depends on how your condition affects your daily life.
I have a PIP award myself, so I know how difficult it can be to complete a successful application. I’ve also had my award stopped and then re instated so I’m aware of how much evidence you need to supply to challenge decisions. You have to go through a specific process to “appeal” a decision. If you disagree with the decision they’ve made, you need to complete a mandatory reconsideration. This has a deadline to complete and return to the DWP with things like extra evidence from medical professionals. I was given a month to do this after my award was stopped, but you haven’t mentioned when your application was refused. In certain circumstances you can get longer to do this.
The DWP will look at it again, and make a decision which could be either to award you PIP or deny it. Only then can you proceed to appeal and it can unfortunately take a long time for an answer.
Macmillan could definitely give you help and advice with this. The support line number is in my signature and you can ring to ask to speak to an advisor.
So, give Macmillan a ring and get the ball rolling. There’s no guarantees you would get an award as that’s a decision for the DWP, but the more comprehensive your application is, then the better position you are in to gain points in the various categories.
Good luck!
Sarah xx
